John Popper, who is currently out on the road with Blues Traveler will head back to the Northeast for three gigs with his Project next month. The John Popper Project Featuring DJ Logic will perform two gigs at the Knitting Factory on May 3rd and 4th and then travel to Asbury Park NJ for a date at Harry’s Road House. Along with Popper and Logic the band consists of the vocalist’s BT bandmate Tad Kinchla on bass and Marcus Bleeker (Mosaic) on drums. The band’s music can be heard at www.johnpopper.net..

The String Cheese Incident invited a few fellow performers to the stage during its set on Sunday at the Blues and Roots Music Festival in Byron Bay, Australia. Multi-instrumentalist Xavier Rudd appeared during ‘Valley of the Jig’ on didgeridoo while Michael Franti added a rap to the song. Later, the band offered a nod to those Australian natives who were Back in Black before the Tap, AC/DC, as Keller Williams joined in on vocals during a take on ‘Hell’s Bells.’ SCIperforms again today at the festival before traveling to Japan, while Williams is headed back to U.S. for a Friday gig at Colgate University and Franti returns to US stages at the end of the month.

As the countdown to the closing of Vermont’s Higher Ground continues, a number of area performers convened at the club for the Vermont Easter Jam. Following regularly-scheduled performances by numerous artists including Jamie Masefield & Paul Asbell (interpreting the music of Django Reinhardt as Masefield has done of late with Marc Ribot) and the Unknown Blues Band, a slightly attenuated version of the Trey Anastasio Band took the stage. The guitarist was joined by those who live proximate to the club, many of whom had appeared earlier in the evening: Dave Grippo, Jennifer Hartswick, Russ Lawton, Tony Markelis, Andy Moroz and Ray Paczkowski. Then, following versions of ‘Push on till The Day,’ ‘Drifting’ and ‘Small Axe,’ members of Phish joined in one at time over the three subsequent songs, with Page McConnell appearing for ‘Last Tube’ Jon Fishman adding snare to ‘Sultans of Swing’ and Mike Gordon playing on bass on ‘Sand.’ During ‘Sand,’ Anastasio’s TAB bandmates departed, leaving the four members of Phish on stage to conclude the tune and then offer a take on ‘Chalkdust Torture.’ Fishman, Gordon and McConnell then temporally stepped away, as members of the Trey Anastasio Band returned for ‘Flock of Words’ and ‘Plasma’ before re-emerging to join in for a fitting cover of Steve Wonder’s ‘Higher Ground’ (with Seth Yacovone and Jamie Masefield). The evening served as a benefit for the Winooski Parks & Rec. Department along with Women’s Rape Crisis Center and the Child Life Department at Fletcher Allen Hospital.